No. 33/15, Eldams Road | Alwarpet | Chennai - 600 018.Phone : 044 - 42009601 / 03 / 04 | Fax : 044 - 43009701Email : indianwriting@nhm.in | Website : www.nhm.in

I n d i a n L i t e r a t u r e i n T r a n s l a t i o n

An Imprint of New Horizon Media

2Indian Literature in Translation

3Indian Literature in Translation

Sons of the SunSa. Kandasamy

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 584- 9

Page :256Rs. 200

Chelliah is a proud young lad who overcomes atroubled childhood amidst rural deprivationthrough self belief. Bullied at school and athome, surviving his mother’s anxiety and lackof confidence in him, he finds a role model inauto mechanic Ramu. His work takes him tothe big city, where he finds friendship andbetrayal, love and loss, challenges and triumph.Sa Kandasami’s tender story climaxes inChelliah’s election as an office bearer in aworkers’ union.

About the author Santhappa Devar Kandasamy,popularly known as Sa Kandasamy, is a notedauthor, documentary film maker, director andproducer. He won the Sahitya Akademi award,India’s highest literary honour, in 1998, for hisnovel Visaranai Commission.

4Indian Literature in Translation

Bound by a sense of filial duty, Parasu, the el-dest son of Jagannathan, gives up his dreams ofhigher studies and settles down to a safe andsecure government job. His younger brotherViswam knows little of his inner struggle.Viswam also dreams big and pities Parasu forhis lack of ambition while envying him his lovelywife, but when reality hits him, Viswam isforced into a deeper understanding of the waywe want life to be and the way it really is.

Surrendered Dreams is a coming-of-age story,sensitively and sympathetically written.

About the author Indumathi made a substantialimpact on readers of Tamil fiction with herserialised novel Tharaiyil Irangum Vimanangalback in the 1970s. Known for her bold, occa-sionally, controversial themes, she began herwriting career at the age of 16. Her articles andstories were published in Tamil magazines likeJnana Ratham, Ananda Vikatan and Kumudam.

Surrendered DreamsIndumathi

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 -585 -6

Page : 120Rs. 100

5Indian Literature in Translation

The TamBrahm BrideKausalya Sabtharishi

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 583- 2

Page :248Rs. 200

‘It’s about time,’ announced Shalu’s mother onefine day. Little did the Sundaresan family realisewhen they jumped on the matrimonialbandwagon that they were in for the ride oftheir lives. Sundaresan becomes thequintessential ‘girl’s father’, nosing outprospective bridegrooms with the flair of abloodhound. Parvati learns that for all herculinary prowess, the way to the ‘boy’s party’s’heart is not through the stomach. Shalu, thebride-to-be, discovers that to be true to whoyou are is the hardest thing when ‘Reject’ isrepeatedly stamped on you.

Will Shalu’s prince come along?

The TamBrahm Bride is a light-hearted journeythrough the dizzying world of south Indianarranged marriages predominantly populated byastrologers, matchmakers and NRI grooms.Rivettingly told, the story may be set in theIndian context, but has a universal appeal thatechoes the sentiments of a global audience.

About the author Kausalya Saptharishi is a US-based freelance journalist whose byline hasappeared in varied American and Indianpublications including The Washington Times,Hinduism Today and India Abroad. This is herdebut novel.

6Indian Literature in Translation

Set amid days long gone, the story centres aroundthe Arasur family. Grown wealthy from the to-bacco trade, the family earn the envy of theking. But are the two sons of the Arasur familyworthy heirs of their father’s mantle?Swaminathan, an erstwhile Vedic scholar loseshis mind and has a sexual relationship with awoman who lived three hundred years beforehim, and Sankaran who looks after the familybusiness battles his erotic urges. It is only intragic circumstances that Fate reveals who willcarry on the line…

Abounding in unforgettable characters such asSubbamma who echoes the disasters to come,Swaminathan’s ghostly lover—a woman whosespirit wanders restlessly across time—KittaAyyan, who converts to Christianity, Vaithy whodrowns his ego in onion sambar, his wife Gomati,the multi-talented Kottakudi dasi—The Ghostsof Arasur reminds us that reality is often strangerthan fiction.

About the author: Era.Murukan (MuruganRamasami) is a noted novelist, short story writer,poet, columnist and translator from Malayalambesides being a writer on information technol-ogy in Tamil. He is the recipient of variousawards including the prestigious 'Katha' and'Ilakkiya Chintanai' for literature

The Ghosts of ArasurEra Murugan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 582 -5

Page : 336Rs. 250

7Indian Literature in Translation

Blood Ties Yuma Vasuki

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 491- 0

Page : 422Rs. 200

Blood Ties is a harrowing tale of domesticviolence and terror. Set in a small town in ruralTamil Nadu, it deals with a joint family of threebrothers sternly presided over by their widowedmother. The story is narrated largely throughthe bewildered eyes of six-year-old Thambi.Intertwined with graphic accounts of blood-letting are scenes of the everyday life of thechildren, their little games and pranks—and theangelic ministrations of Thambi's elder sister.Through this largely autobiographical story,related in a non-judgemental, compassionate,sometimes humorous style, poet and illustratorYuma Vasuki—real name D Marimuthu—paintsvivid word pictures and beguiles you into asurreal world of tragedy and redemption

8Indian Literature in Translation

Indira Parthasarathy is at his sardonic bestwhile dissecting the hypocrisies of Indian soci-ety. In this novel he lays bare the double stan-dards of fiercely competitive men in the busi-ness world and their women forced to live intheir shadows. Humour and compassion softenthe blow and the reader is left with empathy foreach of the characters—the ambitious companyexecutive Arun, his talented wife imprisoned inhis social circle, the ‘liberated’ Radhika with herown share of adversity, and the physically chal-lenged artist-intellectual Damodaran. The sceneof the action is New Delhi, but it could be any-where.

Ashes and WisdomIndira Parthasarathy

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 492 - 7

Page : 159Rs. 150

9Indian Literature in Translation

Deception Sivasankari

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 490- 3

Page : 119Rs. 100

Giridhar and Durga live a picture-perfect lifeuntil Giridhar is sent to the U.K. on work. Durgaendures the separation but becomesincreasingly worried as letters from Giridhar dryup. Unwilling to admit to her family and childrenthat there is no news from her husband, Durgabattles her fears alone. However, a finalrevelation sets her on a journey she had neverthought she would undertake. A journey fortruth.

10Indian Literature in Translation

Lizzy’s family is caught in a bind. Once the firstfamily of the village, they now have nothing buttheir ‘respectability’ to fall back on. As mem-bers of other castes begin to overtake them inwealth and position, the menfolk of Lizzy’s fam-ily feel threatened. Change comes, but at thecost of many innocent lives.

Lizzy’s Legacy was published in Tamil in 1964as Putham Veedu. It was the author’s firstnovel.

Lizzy's LegacyHephzibah Jesudassan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 493 - 4

Page : 168Rs. 150

11Indian Literature in Translation

Twice BornVijay Raghavan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 469- 9

Page : 200Rs. 200

Vijay Raghavan has been a professionaljournalist for three and a half decades and hasworked in newspapers across the fourmetropolises of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata andChennai.

Twice Born is the tale of a man who embarksupon the conquest of unhappiness; and then onthe conquest of happiness. On the way, he hasto clear up the mess in his head created by apsychologically castrating marriage, a belovedson who becomes a Naxalite revolutionary andtortured by the police. He is helped on his voyageof rediscovering himself by a deus ex machinain the form of Dr Hekyll and Mr Jyde, twosplinters of his splintered self.

'…an amazing novel that really digs into thepsychological horrors of the mind with intricatedetail. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.'

12Indian Literature in Translation

Indira Parthasarathy is a well known Indianplaywright, short story writer and novelist writ-ing in Tamil. He has received several honoursfor his writing, including the Sangeet NatakAkademi and Sahitya Akademi awards and theprestigious Saraswati Samman.

Mukundan can't wait to leave Tamil Nadu forNew Delhi. He is in search of a job and a newlife. He gets both, though not in the way he ex-pects. Chance places him as a cook in the houseof Mishra, a political king-maker, whorecognises the young man's leadership poten-tial. Mukundan is groomed for political successby Mishra and the seductive Sarla whose rawambition both awes and repulses him. And whena political denouement is imminent, Mukundanrealises that there is room at the top only forone of them.

Set in New Delhi at the height of Indira Gandhi'sreign, Into this Heaven of Freedom (SwatantraBhoomi) captures the intrigue, suspense,manoeuvring and one-upmanship thatcharacterise politics.

Into this Heaven of FreedomIndira Parthasarathy

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 470 - 5

Page : 216Rs. 200

13Indian Literature in Translation

Rishi MoolamJayakanthan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 382- 1

Page : 144Rs. 150

The eeriness of Jayakanthan's two novellasin this volume is overwhelming and disturbing.The protagonists are helpless victims ofpsychological maladies. Their suppressed libidoand Oedipus complex are areas Tamil writersgenerally dared not enter—at any rate in the1960s, when they were written.

The brilliant introvert Rajaraman is thequintessential good boy. The play ofcircumstances kindles oedipal fancies in him.The incandescent consummation with SaradaMami is a catharsis. A rishi is born looking atthe world with a disdain at once benignly distantand compellingly personal.

Well-educated and well-employed Janaki livesunder the protective cover of her paranoid,possessive, puritanical mother. Her healthyfriendship with a collegemate of yesteryearpromises liberation. Her short-lived taste offreedom is stamped out and she is sucked backinto her mother's bizarre, overwhelming orbit.

The success of Jayakanthan lies in evoking inthe reader a profound empathy with thetragically deviant characters of the two stories.

14Indian Literature in Translation

Neela Padmanabhan is a prolific writer in bothTamil and Malayalam, with eleven novels, sixshort story collections, a volume of poems anda collection of essays to his credit.

Through the life of Anantan Nair—the humblehero of this novel—we experience the tragedyof the ancient regime of princely India and tra-ditional Kerala society, caught in a whirl of vul-gar modernisation. As the rigid hierarchical so-cial order of the Nairs, with the easy virtues oftheir matriarchal tribalism and the slow pace ofan ambitionless life crumbles, Anantan Nair findshimself questioning his life's worth as a husband,father and man.

In this beautiful novel, Neela Padmanabhan hascaptured the soul of Trivandrum and laid it barefor us to see.

Translated from Tamil by M Dakshinamurthy

Cover Photograph Courtesy - Wikimedia Com-mons

Where the lord sleepsNeela Padmanabhan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 471 - 2

Page : 240Rs. 200

15Indian Literature in Translation

TodayAshokamitran

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 384- 5

Page : 88Rs. 100

Ashokamitran’s Today—translated from hisTamil novel Indru—is an avant garde departurefrom traditional forms of writing. The novelstrings together a number of genres such asnarrative fiction, poetry, lectures and anewspaper interview to produce a rareamalgam of fiction and recent history.The condition of freedom fighters in free India,social evils like dowry, corruption and crasscommercialism, institutions like marriage andpolitics are highlighted as problems that occupycentre stage today. The period chosen for suchdelineation is immediately before and after theimposition of a national emergency by PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi. Anger, persecution, lackof compassion and tolerance find theircounterpoint in a father figure-perhaps a veiledreference to the Father of the Nation whosedreams lie shattered in the present.Today is also for all time. Its concerns areuniversal, its people are of flesh and blood. Itraises serious questions about the validity of thevalue systems governing our lives in anincreasingly complex world. It is without doubta trailblazer in post-modern Tamil literature.Translated from Tamil by Shanti Sivaraman

16Indian Literature in Translation

P S Sri’s The Temple Elephant is a novel meantfor all those with a young heart, a vivid imagi-nation and a thirst for divine love.Narrated from the viewpoint of an elephant, itmay be called a bestiary with a socio-politicaland spiritual message. The novel opens with aneloquent description of an ancient South Indiantemple in which the aged elephant, Kesavan, isserving God. As he ambles along the streets ofa temple town with the silver image of Krishnaon his back, Kesavan recalls his past. His tur-bulent youth and manhood in the jungle, his cap-ture in a keddah operation, his sufferings at thehands of his tormentors, his revenge, and finallyhis willing submission to the Maharishi, his guru,who not only saves him from slavery and death,but also shows him a path of love and self-sur-render that eventually brings him to serve in anancient temple. Set against the backdrop of theBritish Raj, the novel takes its readers on anodyssey from the beautiful jungles of South In-dia through the opulence of palace life to theserene simplicity of an ashram.

The Temple ElephantP S Sri

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 385 - 2

Page : 104Rs. 100

17Indian Literature in Translation

Paper FlowersAadhavan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 383 - 8

Page : 408Rs. 300

This is the work of a young writer still evolvinginto the major literary force he was expectedto become—before a drowning accident in1987 snatched him away when he was barely45. The novel explores the psyche of severalindividuals playing superficial roles in their dailyencounters with life in a largely metropolitansetting. Most of them are prisoners of theirimages or rather the images they wish toproject to the world. Insecurity and their senseof alienation prevent them from realising theirpotential as students, lovers, parents, companyexecutives. Aadhavan juxtaposes charactersfrom very different backgrounds and lets thereader listen to the inner voices of these di-verse personalities while they interact with oneanother and when they are apart. The voicesare sometimes strident, at other times gentle,but they keep up a constant dialogue with thereader. Despite all the introspection and self-examination of its characters, Paper Flowersis not a grim tale but one laced with humourand self-deprecation. An outstanding represen-tative of the emerging Tamil fiction of the 1970s.

18Indian Literature in Translation

Jayakanthan (b.1934) is known for his originalthinking and thought-provoking ideas. A prolificwriter, he has two autobiographies, two biogra-phies, several novels and novellas, anthologiesof short stories and essays to his credit. He is aJnanpith Award-winner and a recipient of theChennai Samskrita Academy award. His broadcanvas often has characters drawn from thelower echelons of life, brought to life by hisunique treatment.

Once an Actress is about an intense interplayof emotions in a relationship punctuated by in-tolerance, separation and eventual reunion. Anessentially cerebral columnist, Ranga is a sen-sitive person struggling to overcome his feudalupbringing. For an actress brought up on main-stream theatre, Kalyani is a connoisseur of artsof uncommon maturity. Ranga adores Kalyanibut seeks constant evidence of her love for himKalyani finds her life’s meaning in her involve-ment with Ranga. Love for her is sincerity, hon-esty and compassion, not its overt demonstra-tion. This unsettles Ranga. A helpless victim ofhis chauvinistic pettiness with its thin veneer ofintellectual gloss, Ranga seeks and obtains sepa-ration from Kalyani. The eventual reunion witha now disabled Kalyani is a moving denouement.

Once An ActressJayakanthan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 352 - 4

Page : 232Rs. 200

19Indian Literature in Translation

Wings in the voidIndira Parthasarathy

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 353 - 1

Page : 224Rs. 200

Indira Parthasarathy is the nom de plumeof Professor R Par thasarathy, a wel lknown Indian playwright, short story writerand novelist writing in Tamil. He has re-ceived several honours for his writing, in-cluding the Sangeet Natak Akademi andSahitya Akademi awards and the presti-gious Saraswati Samman. He has so farpublished fifteen novels, six anthologies ofshort stories, ten plays and a collection ofessays.

Among the most significant of IndiraParthasarathy’s novels, Wings in the Voidexplores the wheeling and dealing, ambi-tion and greed that rule the lives of count-less upwardly mobile Indians caught up inthe intrigues of the political and diplomaticcircles of Delhi in the 1960 . Into this com-plex world arrives Kasturi, a young intel-lectual in the making from a small town inTamil Nadu, in search of wealth, successand personal freedom. The novel is an ac-count of his mental and emotional evolu-tion. What Kasturi achieves—and loses inthe process—mirrors the experiences ofmany young modern urban Indians in theirstruggle for a better life.

20Indian Literature in Translation

Vaasanthi, former editor of India Today’s Tamiledition, has authored 30 novels, six short storycollections, two volumes of journalistic articlesand four travelogues. As a novelist and journal-ist, she has been a champion of human rights,gender issues, and communal harmony.

This work, Aakasa Veedugal, has been trans-lated into Hindi and Czech.

A Home in the Sky is the story of the yearn-ings of an innocent child Raju, brutalised by arepressed, self-righteous father Sabhesan, whowallows in the misery of his self-imposed, rigidorthodoxy. Raju’s angelic mother Lalita andadoring elder cousin Meenu—a fiery city-bredgirl on the verge of adulthood—are the child’sonly hope, but they cannot save him from thecruelties of his life.

On a visit to the village, Meenu decides to stayon to study in a nearby college, drawn to theaunt she loves and admires and the cousin shefeels she must protect. The handsome younglecturer Hariharan is a distraction she fails tocombat, while his disabled sister poses a freshchallenge. The nascent romance between herand Hariharan soon runs into trouble.

Tragedy breaks the hitherto unrepentantSabhesan and for the first time Meenu beginsto understand Lalita’s patience with her auto-cratic husband. And love blossoms once againin her own life.

A Home in the SkyVaasanthi

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 351 - 7

Page : 240Rs. 200

21Indian Literature in Translation

BridgesSivasankari

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 354 - 8

Page : 288Rs. 200

Sivasankari has written with great aware-ness on social issues and social problems.Globally recognised and honoured for herwritings, she is the recipient of severalawards. Her works have been translatedinto many Indian languages, English, Japa-nese and Ukrainian.

Knit India Through Literature is hermega-project involving intense sourcing,research and translation of literature from18 Indian languages, with a mission to in-troduce Indians to other Indians throughculture and literature.

Bridges is a saga of three generations ofTamil brahmin women. The novel gives thereader rare glimpses into customs and tra-ditions typical of each period it covers—with an unjaundiced eye, great attention todetail, compassion and humour.

The women in Bridges—the central fig-ures in the novel—are quite often strongcharacters. Each succeeding generation ofwomen is stronger and more emancipatedthan the previous one.

The story spans nearly a century and al-though i ts women have different l i feexperiences,they face them with courageand dignity. The men too provide an inter-esting mix of characters, each a productof his time and milieu. In the process oftelling this compelling family history,Sivasankari succeeds in capturing the manynuances of the lifestyles of the times.

22Indian Literature in Translation

Ashokamitran has been an internationallyrecognised Tamil writer of fiction for decades,known for the wry detachment and spare proseof his writing. His novels have been translatedinto English, Tamil, Telugu and other languages.He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for hiscollection of short stories entitled ‘AppavinSnehitargal’ (‘Father’s Friends’) in 1996.

Star-Crossed is a novel about the world ofTamil cinema minus the glamour. It takes a keenlook at the lives of film-makers, technicians, pro-ducers and actors. Turning the spotlight on thefringes of the entertainment world,Ashokamitran exposes the daily trials and atribulation of a cast of characters none too fa-miliar to those who equate the world of cellu-loid with the proverbial dream factory.

The original Tamil title, Karainda Nizhalgal,conveys the tragedy and uncertainty inherent inthe lives of these providers of mass entertain-ment, whose fortunes rise and fall or sink alto-gether with the making of a film. Simply told,the tale reveals the nitty-gritty of the ordinarylives in the shadows that collaborate to createmagic for the silver screen. Told in simple, un-sentimental language, the story is nonethelessprofoundly moving.

Star-CrossedAshokamithran

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 283 - 1

Page : 144Rs. 150

23Indian Literature in Translation

Love and lossJayakanthan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 285 - 5

Page : 160Rs. 150

Jayakanthan, born in 1934, is among themost eminent and influential writers inTamil. He has won acclaim as a combat-ive and thought-provoking author, with over10 novels, 30 novellas and 100 short sto-ries as well as numerous essays to hiscredit. He has received many awards,among them the prestigious Jnanpith Awardin 2002 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in1972. He is also a Fellow of the SahityaAkademi.

Jayakanthan's novel, Love and Loss, is asensitive 'slice of life' story that exploresthe l ives of Thangam, a constructionworker and her son Chitti, born out of wed-lock. The squalid slums of erstwhile Ma-dras, now Chennai, form the grimy back-ground to the tender drama of a womantrying to find an anchor to her life in aroadside astrologer she befriends, and thefurious resentment and protest this engen-ders in her son.

Originally titled Unnai Pol Oruvan inTamil, it portrays a milieu that was not of-ten the stuff of fiction in the 1960s. It wasmade into an award-winning film.

24Indian Literature in Translation

Indira Parthasarathy is the nom de plume ofProfessor R Parthasarathy, a well known In-dian playwright, short story writer and novelistwriting in Tamil. He has received severalhonours for his writing, including the SangeetNatak Akademi and Sahitya Akademi awardsand the prestigious Saraswati Samman. He hasso far published fifteen novels, six anthologiesof short stories, ten plays and a collection ofessays.

Indira Parthasarathy calls Krishna a metaphorthat ‘fulfils all the dark and lurking desires inour deep Unconscious and represents thecollective vision of the community as a whole.’In his view, Krishna cannot be judged by the‘moral yardstick’ set for others either.

Using the pansophical Narada as the narratorwidens the scope of the novel and helpscontemporize its concerns. Beginning with Jarathe hunter shooting an arrow at Krishna’s feetin the aftermath of the Kurukshetra war, theauthor has Narada telling the story of Krishnaas revealed to Jara by Krishna. IndiraParthasarathy’s Krishna is not only an amalgamof the Harivamsam, Sri Bhagavatam, VishnuPurana and the Mahabharata but the vehiclethat carries their cultural and aesthetic themesinto a literary discussion of the idea of Krishna.

Krishna KrishnaIndira Parthasarathy

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 284 - 8

Page : 248Rs. 200

25Indian Literature in Translation

I, RamaseshanAadhavan

ISBN : 978 - 81- 8368 - 282 - 4

Page : 216Rs. 200

Aadhavan was the nom de plume of thelate K S Sundaram (1942-87). In a briefspan of time, he wrote two significant nov-els, a play and more than fifty short sto-ries. A Sahitya Akademi Award winner,Aadhavan brought a refreshing new styleto Tamil fiction. His books, mostly shortstories, set in the urban milieu of his time,gave expression to the middle class of anentire generation.

Aadhavan's novel traces the emotional evo-lution of an adolescent growing into youngadulthood. Infatuation, calf love, flirtations,love outside-marriage the yearnings anddisappointments that lead to the growth andmaturity of a young college student arethe theme of the story. As Ramaseshan ishimself the narrator, the reader is privy tohis innermost doubts and inferences, notto mention the shifting focus of his atten-tions. Written with humour and insight, thenovel also touches on the gaps betweengenerations trying to understand each otherand the slow dawning of clues to completethis exercise successfully.